Peanut butter and chocolate- what’s not to love? When you combine those in the form of a cookie that is both flourless and butterless… and uses all natural ingredients- and only 5 of them, at that… well, life gets peachy (and yes, that was a terribly-structured run-on). Happiness takes on an all-new form in these cookies that- I’m almost ashamed to say- are mildly adapted from a recipe of Paula Deen’s. It’s true- she at times will make something that won’t fill your arteries in semblance to Houston’s highways.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mildly Adapted from Peanut Butter Cookies by Paula Deen

The only changes I made were as follows:

• I used Skippy Naturals creamy smooth peanut butter (no-stir, it’s fantastic) as opposed to your usual high-fructose-corn-syrup-ladden variety
• I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the dough prior to first mixing
• As the sugar requirement ambiguously stated “sugar” without clarification, I opted to diversify my “portfolio” and used 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• I chopped 3/4 of a Hershey’s Symphony tablet into small chunks which I mixed into the dough right before forming into balls to bake
• My oven- which usually is on the hot side- took about 23 minutes to bake the cookies, not 10… so be warned that the 10 may be far too conservative.

For the rest, I honestly followed the recipe as-is and it produced splended results. Mine don’t look a thing like her picture, but that doesn’t detract from the superb flavour and texture! They’re really delicious, very quick, and perfect for when you’d like to make cookies but have few ingredients on hand.

I wanted to share a quick word with you on plating. I’ve recently gotten increasingly into having fun with plating and have found that it’s a very simple way to ‘dress up’ something commonplace. A plain plate allows the food to take center stage- and are easy to find, as they’re all the rage at the moment- and displaying ingredients well can cause a major uplift in perception of taste. Take, for example, a slice of toast. You can place it, as I often do, on a brightly-coloured striped plate, unadorned, near a jar of jam or the pot of soy butter… you could also take an egg and place it on a similarly busy plate design… and for what purpose? Yes, it’s practical, but no, you’re not giving it the attention that would cause its taste to suddenly seem so much more magnificent.

I decided to experiment with this by taking a subject who usually eats food incredibly quickly (the boyfriend) who may or may not notice all the elements of a dish. Rather than serve him his oft-had toast and sunny-side up eggs in boring fashion, I decided to have some fun with it.

Two scoops of vanilla yogurt drizzled with drops of honey, peach jam for the toast, and blackberries with cinnamon sprinkled on top sit in this fun 3-piece tasting plate. The same ingredients could easily be served in their containers, but why not make it more exciting (though, granted, it is one more dish to clean). Add on the toast (with a small dollop of soy butter) and eggs on a similar single-colour tasting platter and voila. One of the simplest breakfasts of all time, made immediately classy simply by its plating. The boyfriend ate it far less quickly than usual, and seemed more satisfied after having eaten it. I rest my case. :)

My parents brought us two boxes of delicious and delectable campari tomatoes the other week which clearly called for a self-attempted challenge. Added to this, my wonderful friend from work, B, gave me the lovely gift of the most enormous bag I’ve ever seen (honestly) of kitchen supplies- cake tins, baking sheets, cake molds big and small, and… an electric mixer. Cue angelic singing- this was the most exciting development my kitchen tool collection had seen in quite some time :). The thought of beating egg whites within two minutes by myself rather than within an hour of combined work of three strong boys. Thus I was definitely going to make a souffle.

So then began the challenge: can a fresh tomato souffle be done? All my online research pointed to the contrary: “It’s too watery!”, “Even removing the pulp won’t do it” “Sun-dried works better”- which, of course, begged for me to try it out and see if it was true. And I’m glad to say that I’ve found that it IS possible. It won’t rise quite as much, and it falls perhaps a bit more quickly, but in texture, mechanics, taste, and smell, it is a souffle. What else matters? :)

Fresh Tomato and Cheese Souffle

Adapted from Julia Child’s Classic French Cheese Souffle adaption at Epicurious

Ingredients (Makes 7 souffles):

• 1/2 cup grated San Pietro cheese (can be substituted for Parmesan or similar cheese)
• 2 tablespoons grated French Gruyere cheese
• 1 cup organic fat-free skim milk
• 1/3 cup double-concentrated tomato paste (I used Amore)
• 1 cup carved/hulled campari or cherry tomatoes, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• 2 1/2 tablespoons organic soy butter spread
• 3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 large organic cage-free egg yolks
• 5 large organic cage-free egg whites

Process:

1. Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 400 degrees F
2. Butter 7 soufflé ramekins (or maybe butter 6 and have a 7th on hand ready)
3. Sprinkle some of the grated San Pietro onto the buttered ramekin and coat the sides
4. Warm milk in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming
5. While warm is heating, melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat
6. Add flour once butter is melted and whisk until mixture begins to foam and loses raw taste, about 3 minutes (do not allow mixture to brown)
7. Remove saucepan from heat; let stand 1 minute
8. Pour in warm milk and 1/2 of the tomato paste, whisking until smooth
9. Return to heat and cook, whisking constantly until very thick, 2 to 3 minutes
10. Remove from heat; whisk in remaining tomato paste, paprika, salt, and nutmeg
11. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, whisking to blend after each addition
12. Scrape soufflé base into large bowl and cool to lukewarm
13. Carve out pulp of tomatoes (see picture below) and cut into chunks. Then, take a paper towel and blot out as much moisture as possible. Use a second paper towel if the tomatoes are still at all shining (this indicated water content) and toss the tomatoes, then blot again, until fully dry
14. Once dried, toss half of the tomato chunks into souffle base mixture
15. Sprinkle some salt into a large mixing bowl, then, using electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry (should take approx. 2 minutes- I suggest starting on the lowest setting and slowly working your way up, working in small circles that get wider and wider)
16. Fold 1/4 of whites into lukewarm or room temperature soufflé base to lighten
17. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions while gradually sprinkling in the remaining Gruyère and San Pietro cheese
18. Transfer batter to your prepared ramekins- and be prepared to need an extra one or two depending on the size of your ramekins (or les, if your ramekins are on the larger side)
19. Place the remaining half of the tomato chunks in the middle of the ramekins, evenly distributing between the ramekins
20. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and then place sheet in the oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F
21. Bake until soufflé is puffed and golden brown on top and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 minutes (do not open oven door during first 20 minutes). This can take up to 30 minutes depending on oven heating
22. Serve immediately for best results- can be stored outdoors for the first day and should be refrigerated afterwards

It’s delicious, and really best when hot out of the oven and steaming. They’ll sadly begin falling as soon as they come out, so if you wanted to snap a photo of them when puffy, be quick! The cheese taste overpowers the tomato a bit, but this can be combatted by a) using more or a stronger tomato paste, or b) using less (or a less strong) cheese. Tomato souffle is a popular choice, but it’s rare to find it with fresh tomato rather than sun-dried; just remember to dry the tomatoes out as much as possible prior to mixing in to the batter!

The second panino H and I assembled was by far the yummier of the two, and all thanks to a chance added ingredient. The flavours of this one were fantastic, to the point where the boyfriend happily wrote me upon having eaten his take-home panino half, “That second panino was sooooo good!!” and he usually doesn’t go out of his way to comment after the fact, which clearly speaks in favour of this hot pressed sandwich. It’s got some really fun textures going on and is downright delicious. Herein lie its secrets:

Hot Italian Panino

Ingredients (makes one sandwich):

• 2 slices cut approx. 1-inch thick of rustic bread of your choice (french boule, rustic/country bread, a fairly dense ciabatta, etc- so long as it’s got few holes and a good crust)
• 5-8 fresh basil leaves
• 3-4 slices fresh mozarella or fresh Italian cheese (we used one which H picked up at the Whole Foods cheese counter of which we both immediately forgot the name, but it was fantastic. More consisent than fresh mozz but creamier and more flavourful)
• 1 tsp – 1 tablespoon (depending on your preference) of pesto (I used the disastrous one I made specifically for this sandwich)
• 2 slices deli turkey (my suggestion would be a smoked or oven-roasted one)
• 1 roasted red bell pepper (jarred works fine)

Process:

1. Heat panini press or grill pan
2. Assemble cheese slices onto one of the bread slices
3. Arrange basil leaves over cheese (see pictures below)
4. Arrange turkey slices over the basil leaves
5. Place red bell pepper over the turkey
6. Spread pesto evenly onto other bread slice
7. Put bread slices together carefully so as to not spill ingredients
8. Place sandwich on panini press and pull down the top; or, place on grill pan and place pressing tool on top; or, place on grill pan and if you do not have a panini press, put a heavy weight on top
9. Grill/press for 4-5 minutes, then if browned to your preference, flip over and grill for another 4-5 minutes
10. Remove from heat, slice in half at a slight diagonal, and dig in :)

It’s incredibly quick and simple, as if you have ready-made ingredients the onl thing you really have to do is cut the cheese… and yet, for under 10 minutes of work and a bit more for prep time and cleaning, you have a gourmet lunch/dinner that’s portable, delicious, and features a wide variety of textures. Try it out and vary the ingredients! You could add tomato (but be careful, they may eject juice), eggplant, zucchini, you name it.

Ah, this one definitely is to be filed in the ‘accident’ category. H and I were set to make to panini, and the second was to be an Italian one, featuring pesto… and rather than use the perfectly fine store-bought one in the fridge, I just had to go off and try making my own. With no direction, no recipe, no studying, just randomly throwing things into the blender and hoping for the best. The saddest part is that it probably would have worked, too, if it weren’t for that meddling shallot! I had picked up some very pretty looking shallots at the store earlier that day and thought it a brilliant idea to chop one up and put the whole thing right on into the pesto. Raw. Clearly I sometimes just am not thinking things through :) That said, in case any of you are mad enough to want to try it, herein lies the recipe to my failure:

House-Made Shallot Pesto

Ingredients (makes about 6 oz):

• 1/4 cup organic canola oil
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1/16 tsp lemon xest (just grate it for 5 seconds or so)
• 1/4 cup whole sunflower seeds
• heaping 1/4 cup almost-burnt toasted walnuts
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups chopped parsley (curly-leaf)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, paprika, coriander, cumin, sea salt, black pepper
• …1 medium shallot, minced (DON’T DO IT!)

Process:

1. Place all liquid ingredients (canola oil, olive oil) in bottom of blender or food processor
2. Then place parmesan and nuts
3. Then add in all other ingredients
4. Omit the shallot, it’s not worth your crying over
5. Blend/process on medium setting until the pesto becomes rather thick (though not quite tapenade-thickness)

Et voila, you’re done! When shallot-less, I bet this would have been a rather tasty pesto, although I would suggest upping the parlsey to perhaps 3 cups and adding some more sunflower seeds, they give a really nice texture. That said, the mere thought of this- honestly- makes me cry as my eyes were watering for a good hour after chopping that silly shallot, so do your eyes a favour and omit it so that you can have a happy pesto!

EDIT: After having used this pesto for a few weeks for a varity of panini, I have to say I’ve really come to like it. The sunflower seeds have absorbed most of the oil, so it has more of a tapenade consistency, but the shallot taste is by no means overpowering and adds a very nice flavour to the sandwiches. It’s also ideal as a panino-bread coating because it will seep through just enough to create nice grill marks but won’t splatter about.

I apologize for being so slow the past week, it’s been a bit of a mad time, but I am at long last documenting the culinary escapades that have since unfolded! First on the list is this hot, hot, hot panino featuring two ingredients and none more within its starchy encasings: pear and cheese. I kid you not, it’s literally that simple, and yet oozing- dripping, really- with flavour. H and I were in a panini-making mood and, quite conveniently, she has a gorgeous panini press.  It was like a sign.

The trick to getting this to be chock-full of flavour is using the right kind of cheese. We used some Delice Nostalgie cheese (it’s a triple creme French cheese in the style of Brie) that I had been keeping in the fridge for a while, and a mildly ripe pear (not so firm that it was crunchy nor so ripe that it fell apart).

Hot Pear & Brie Panino

Ingredients (makes one sandwich):

• 2 slices cut approx. 1-inch thick of rustic bread of your choice (french boule, rustic/country bread, a fairly dense ciabatta, etc- so long as it’s got few holes and a good crust)
• 1 small pear, medium-ripe, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch thick slices
• 2-3 half-inch-thick slices of Brie (or similar creamy French) cheese

Process:

1. Heat panini press or grill pan
2. Arrange pear slices on one bread slice
3. Arrange cheese slices on other bread slice- note, as this is a creamy cheese, you may need to spread the cheese evenly onto the bread (see pictures below) rather than simply arranging slices (this will depend on how creamy your chosen cheese is)
4. Put bread slices together carefully so as to not allow contents to fall out
5. Place sandwich on panini press and pull down the top; or, place on grill pan and place pressing tool on top; or, place on grill pan and if you do not have a panini press, put a heavy weight on top
6. Grill/press for 3-4 minutes, then if browned to your preference, flip over and grill for another 3-4 minutes
7. Remove from heat, slice in half at a slight diagonal, and dig in :)

It’s quite possibly the most simple sandwich ever and yet it is so insanely flavourful. The cheese melts like butter and moistens the bread, whil ethe pear cooks into a gentle texture and flavour that melds nicely with the cheese. This is vegetarian-friendly and an excellent way to celebrate the simplicity of very few ingredients.

Pasta primavera… a favourite dish for spring. Amusedly enough, when I was cooking this, there was torrential downpour outside, the windows both whitened with the sheets of rain and blackened with the brooding clouds looming overhead. But I was thinking of bright colours, crisp vegetables, and aromatic herbs, and so came about this take on primavera: hot, steaming, colourful, and with a touch of sweetness. It’s not your traditional recipe for it, but it’s certainly very delicious :)

Cream Sherry Chicken Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box dry whole wheat fusilli or other short pasta (penne, farfalle, etc)
• Approx 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 large heads of broccoli
• Approx. 10-12 fresh campari or small roma tomatoes
• 1 cup cream sherry (dessert, dry)
• 1/2 cup minced spinach leaves
• 1/3 cup minced fresh curly-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon soy butter
• 2 medium-sized chicken breasts, cleaned
• Approx 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Process:

1. Set water on to boil for pasta- add water amount as directed on box, adding in large-grain sea salt (pinch) and a drew drops of olive oil so pasta won’t stick
2. Cut broccoli crowns into small florets and pile onto a microwaveable plate
3. Dampen a large paper towel with hot water, squeeze out excess, and place over broccoli plate so that the edges wrap around the bottom and all sides are well-covered.
4. Microwave for approx. 4 minutes; lift paper towel to check cookedness. If steam is rising and the broccoli is a very bright green, then simply leave in microwave to continue lightly steaming- if not, microwave for another 30 seconds to 1 minute until optimally green.
5. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the parsley, spinach, a large pinch of salt and pepper into a mixing bowl; stir together
6. Halve or quarter (depending on your preference and tomato size) tomatoes and toss into mixing bowl.
7. Add in the broccoli; toss all in the oil and herb mixture
8. Drain the pasta and add to the mixing bowl
9. BEFORE tossing pasta, sprinkle on half of the parmesan cheese; let sit 1 minute, then toss (this way the pasta will absorb more of the cheese)
10. Heat the soy butter and a small drizzle of cream sherry in a sautee pan
11. Once bubbling, add in the chicken breasts and brown thoroughly on both sides
12. Once well-browned, add in a bit over half of the remaining sherry and cook on medium until the chicken is no longer squishy (press with tongs or a spoon to test, or simply cut open and then put cut-side down back into the pan)
13. Remove chicken from heat and palce onto a cutting board; spoon on the caramelized sauce it was cooking in. Cut into small chunks and add to the pasta.
14. Toss pasta; then drizzle in the remaining cream sherry, remaining olive oil, remaining cheese, and toss once more.

That’s a lot of tossing, I know :) but I like to have the sauce very evenly distributed. The real key to the flavours here is the cream sherry- it adds a bit of sweetness that’s cut by the nuttiness of the parmesan, making an excellent combination. This one is enjoyable hot as an entree or cold as a pasta salad.

Also known as Eggplant Gratin, I haphazardly put together these ingredients in this fashion not knowing that it would result in a classical French dish. Nautrally, this has brought joy to my heart :) and knowledge of a new dish! This gratin is hearty, much more so than it looks, so be not fooled by its seemingly small size. The eggplant- a well-known meat substitute in terms of providing something with good texture and firmness- goes very nicely with the tomato and cheese. This one took me a while if for no other reason than I was making it up as a went… only to now find that it’s a traditional recipe (though mine was, of course, slightly different)… go figure!

Gratin Languedocien / Eggplant Gratin

Ingredients (for 3):

• 1 large eggplant, rinsed
• 1/2 can (small) tomato chunks in juice (suggestion: Muir Glen Organic natural tomato chunks)
• Approx. half-dozen fresh campari or cherry tomatoes, sliced thickly
• Approx. 1 tablespoon pesto (suggestion: basil or cilantro)
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
• 1 – 1&1/3 cup low-fat ricotta cheese (depends on how much room you have in your ramekins)
• 1 slice of honey whole wheat bread (or other bread)
• Approx. 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• Approx. 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Seat salt & black pepper

Process:

1. Rinse eggplant and cut into thick rounds. Salt thoroughly and set aside for about 30 minutes on the kitchen countertop. This will sweat out the vegetable’s natural bitterness. This doesn’t bother everyone, so feel free to take this step as being optional. However, if you do decide to salt and sweat the eggplant, be sure to rinse them thoroughly after the 30 minutes are up to remove the bitter juice and excess salt prior to cutting them in step 3.
2. Preheat oven to 365 degrees F
3. Cut eggplant rounds into approx. 1-inch chunks and cook in olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the minced garlic. You may need to do this in two or three batches depending on the size of your eggplant and pan. Try to have as much contact with the bottom of the pan as possible to allow the eggplant to brown nicely. Don’t add too much extra olive oil- stir-fry it (sort of) using just a bit of oil.
4. Once cooked to where the eggplant is nicely browned but not mushy (it’s a fine line, I’m afraid!), divide evenly amoung ramekins
5. Take the pesto and divide evenly (you can make your own or use store-bought- I used Whole Foods’ bulk basil pesto) using a spoon to spread over the eggplant in the ramekins. This can be a rather thin layer, or thicker- whichever you prefer!
6. Divide the tomatoes- juice and all- evenly amoung the ramekins. If the juice seems too liquid, drain out a bit of it first before putting the tomatoes into the ramekins.
7. Place the fresh tomato slices over the canned tomato chunks in the ramekins to where they are laying flat.
8. Going carefully with a spoon, spoon on the ricotta cheese and divide evenly amoung the ramekins, spreading it across like icing to where it reaches just below the top of the ramekin and is evenly spread. This quantity will vary based on how much you have filled your ramekins. However, I wouldn’t suggest going over an inch in thickness, or the ricotta taste will overpower the other ingredients.
9. Cut the bread slice (crusts and all) into large squares and place in blender. Blend into breadcrumbs, then distribute breadcrumbs evenly over the ramekins.
10. Sprinkle on parmesan, salt, and pepper; drizzle over a frew drops of oil.
11. Place ramekins on a cookie/baking sheet to avoid spills or overflow.
12. Place in oven on top rack to bake for approx. 8-10 minutes, until the tops begin to brown. If they do not seem heated enough, move then to the bottom shelf on 350 degree heat for an additional 4-5 minutes. If the mixture is toppling over the sides and fizzing, then they’re ready to come out!

The garlic added quite a bit of flavour so feel free to go lighter on it- but my mother has told me it’s incredibly healthy, so I’m trying to sneak it in wherever possible! In any case, this is a hearty entree for vegetarians and a good, warm, dish to have on a cold day.

I have come to a conclusion: I’m in need of a mandolin. Making chips without one means not being able to count on consistency, texture, or timing. That said, these turned out to be some rather yummy chips! It’s a simple process, they’re far healthier than your fried grocery-store chip, and really tasy. In the future I’m going to try onion and garlic, but perhaps not with sweet potato… that may be a more non-sweet-potato thing. I’m told these also go well with cinnamon :)

Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 large yam/sweet potato (or more, if desired)
• about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Rinse yam, then slice as thinly as possible using sharp knife or, preferably, a mandolin
3. Brush light coating of olive oil onto baking sheets- very thin, but enough so that the bottom of the chips won’t burn
4. Arrange yam slices packed in tightly but flat across baking sheets
5. Brush another very light coating of olive oil onto the tops of the slices
6. Sprinkle on salt and pepper (quantity as desired)
7. Bake yam slices for about 6 minutes, then rotate to even the baking process
8. Bake for an additional 6-8 minutes, until edges begin to curl slightly upward and the chips have reached your desired level of crunchiness
9. Place a paper towel over a cooling rack
10. Remove from baking sheet and arrange over paper towel-cooking rack, trying to have as much contact with the paper towel as possible
11. Allow to cool for 5 minutes; toss the chips over if desired to absorb more oil into the towel, allowing to cool for a few more minutes
12. Eat and enjoy! :) For something cool to counter the heat and pepper, dip chips in cold sour cream- or, instead of pepper, add cinnamon and some cloves for a sweeter (yet spiced) taste

It’s a rather quick process! The only downside is that if you used a gargantuan yam as I did, you’ll need more than two baking sheets- so it took me two batches of two sheets to just do one yam worth of chips. These things have a high yield! You may also want to arrange the chips by size- have one sheet of smaller slices and one of larger so that you can ensure more even timing for the lot.

H and I developed a strong affinity from our first attempt at molten chocolate cake and were craving it, so… why not make it again? We yet again followed the recipe to the letter (Martha Stewart’s excellent recipe is super simple), this time completing it fully rather than halving it. It continues to be not molten or lava-like but rather very squishy and moist in the middle, and they’re really quite dense.

There’s something oddly gourmet about them- we’re unable to pinpoint the exact thing that brings it about- but one thing’s for certain, they’re absolutely delicious. My friend Saloni suggests baking them in a muffin tin for lava texture, so I suppose we’ll have to- for the same of experimentation- try them again in the future. It’s a hardship, but we’re willing to slave for our cause. I really highly suggest you try this cake- it’s perfect for entertaining, easy to make in large batches if you have a good set of rammekins (rammies!), and are very easy do-ahead cakes to heat up for the next day. We had ours warm, with melting vanilla ice cream and a small pile of strawberries; the next day I ate this demo cake pictured above cold with blueberries. It’s delicious either way (hot or cold), and would probably go wonderfully with any berry!

For our weekly cooking date, H suggested Mary Englebreit’s mexican wedding cookie recipe, and who was I to refuse these adorable confectionaries? It was a simple recipe- utilizes very few ingredients- and is rather foolproof save for one thing: the toasted nuts. That said, they were incredibly tasty and addicting. Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on how you look at it- the powdered sugar on the outside truly is a must. I kept a few unpowdered for photographing and they’re really just not the same! These are very yummy, very portable (though watch out for the sugar rubbing off!) and would make a great potluck item.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Adapted from Mexican Wedding Cookies by Mary Englebreit (or Paula Deen)

Ingredients:

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment/wax paper
2. Cream the butter and sugar at slowly until it is smooth in a medium-sized bowl. Once mixed well, add in the vanilla.
3. Gradually add the flour (in perhaps 2-3 batches)
4. Mix in the pecans and nuts with a rubber/silicone spatula (toast them first in the oven! but don’t overtoast- see note below)
5. Get your hands nicely floured up, then take out about 1 tablespoon of dough (I used a spoon) and shape into a fat little ball. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 17 minutes. Cool until you can handle them without yelling, then roll them in the extra confectioner’s sugar and set aside to cool on a wire rack. Then, 10-15 minutes later, roll once more (the first round will have become transparent).

Unfortunately, I’m unable to find Mary’s recipe online, but this one from Paula Deen is, I’m frightened to say, very close as a substitute. The proportions of ours were 2 sticks of butter (smart balance! soy butter!) to 2 cups of flour. We toasted the nuts at 400 for 10 minutes and they were a bit burnt- my oven is overtly powerful! So maybe set your timer for 5 and then check- although in the cookies, they still taste fantastic, in my opinion.

The Mary recipe also has you bake the cookes for 17 minutes (or something like that) at 400 degrees rather than 40 minutes at 275- I wouldn’t be surprised if Paula’s are a bit mushier than ours turned out (they’re like a semi-dry shortbread cookie). Lastly, Mary’s recipe calls for rolling in sugar after baking, cooling on a wire rack, then re-rolling. I’m also tempted to try these with half whole wheat flour, half AP, and perhaps some wheat germ thrown in to add healthiness. It’s worth a try! If nothing else, they’re seriously cute :).

They’re not too sweet, so beware, sweets lovers, this one’s a light-yet-cake-y muffin that’s incredibly healthy and yummy! They would have been sweeter- and tastier- with the raisins I had planned to put in… but forgot. Oops! That said, even without them, they’re a delicious snack to have in your bag, for breakfast, or at I’ve often used them, concert food!

Most muffin recipes use a ton of sour cream and butter, and I’ve found that to be downright silly. Why make an unhealthy muffin when it could be far healthier? I mixed and matched flours here to experiment with texture, but feel free to simplify by using all whole-wheat regular flour (not a mix of pastry and regular). You can also completely remove the sour cream in favour of applesauce only- I’ve done this many times before and the result is great. I was just curious to see if I could get a heartier muffin, since mine tend to be very light and fluffy. If you’re opting for a vegan and virtually fat-free muffin, replace the eggs with pumpkin puree (thanks, Sasha, for the tip!)- I’d suggest 1/4 cup per egg- and replace all the sour cream for applesauce. This recipe started as one from Emeril but I found it to not be quite healthy enough and am always changing things anyway (I have a few variations already up on fruippe: 1 & 2)

Whole Wheat Low-Fat Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients- makes approx. 12 large muffins and 8-10 mini muffins:

• 2 large apples (golden delicious or granny smith are best), peeled, cored, cut into about 3/4-inch chunks (sizes and shapes can vary)
• 1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour
• 1.5 slightly-heaping teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream (or applesauce)
• 3 large eggs (or 3/4 cup pumpkin puree)
• 3/4 cup all-natural applesauce
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup black sweet raisins or sultanas (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 370 degrees farenheit and butter a large muffin tin. Set cupcake liners into a mini muffin tin (or butter- your preference). Use soy butter for a healthier alternative!
2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices, baking powder and soda) in a small mixing bowl and set aside. You can sift this if you’d like to introduce more air into the mixture but the applesauce substitution will usually do that work for you!
3. Whisk together the eggs, sour cream (if you opted to use any), apple sauce, and vanilla in a second bowl until just combined. Then whisk in the sugar very lightly- again, less is more here (take a Charmin approach)
4. Add the dry mixture in 3 batches each time mixing in until just combined.
5. Then fold in the apples, raisins, and nuts, until fairly evenly distributed, but again being careful not to overmix.
6. Pour the batter into the tins and muffin cups and put into the oven.
7. The large muffins take about 20 minutes to bake; the small muffins take closer to 15 minutes.
8. Remove the muffins from the oven, let sit inside the tins for 5 minutes or until slightly cooled, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

 These guys are perfect for gifts, snacks, and more. They’re very simple to make, and you can make countless variations. The boyfriend loves when I substitute the apple for banana and add in almond and walnut chunks, and substitute almond extract for vanilla extract. You can switch around to a variety of fruit and nut combinations. A fun version for fall could be cranberry and pecan! Try out whatever you like best :)